A young local cornhole competitor recently participated in the American Cornhole League World Championships, and though he came just short of winning his bracket, he left the event having officially received the title of a professional player.

Ryan Traiteur, along with his parents Kelly and Jimmy, spoke about the week he had at the championships as well as his journey to become a pro.

Ryan is 13 years old, and like plenty of other Waterloo boys his age, his first experience with the sport came from throwing bean bags as a small backyard lawn game alongside his brother Mason.

“We actually kinda just started pretty much how everyone else does, in the backyard, at barbecues, things like that,” Kelly said. “Then when COVID hit, there wasn’t a whole lot to do, so they would go down to the basement with my husband and they would practice and practice.”

At one point, Ryan participated in a local cornhole fundraiser event. A few local pros and competitive players encouraged him to check out some advanced tournaments in the area, and for the last year or two, competitive cornhole has been his passion.

His tournament participation has seen the family travel all around the country, from somewhat closer drives like Kansas and Minnesota to much longer treks such as Florida and an upcoming event in California.

Such a competitive circuit might come as a surprise to those who only think of the sport as an outdoor party game. 

Ryan’s father emphasized just how big of a phenomenon cornhole has become.

“It’s huge, and it’s just gonna get bigger,” Jimmy said. “There’s full-ride scholarships for cornhole. It’s gonna be in the Olympics soon.”

Given the seriousness of the sport, Ryan and Mason have put in a tremendous amount of hours honing their skills.

The family described the cornhole setup in their basement, noting the relatively low ceilings the boys have to work around likely have a substantial impact on their throwing skills.

And all that hard work has certainly been paying off. The brothers have shown great talent at plenty of local and out-of-state tourneys, with a cornhole blind draw at Triple Lakes Tavern in Dupo being one of their go-to regular competitions.

Ryan and Mason also placed first at the most recent Red Bud Fireman’s Picnic tournament, and Mason showed his own skills by winning with his team in an eight-person championship event consisting of 100 competing teams.

Ryan’s ability was recently on display at the 2023 ACL World Championships in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he not only made his debut on ESPN but managed to come in second in his finals bracket.

While his fine performance through the week is well worth celebrating, Ryan’s biggest achievement came in the middle of the night on Friday, when his parents saw he received an email from the ACL announcing his qualification as an ACL Pro for the 2023-24 season.

Ryan has been pushing to accrue the necessary points to qualify for the past year. His father described just how massive that accomplishment really is.

“There’s only 256 ACL pros, and they only allow nine of them to be under the age of 18,” Jimmy said. “Ryan’s one of them. He just got his pro status three days ago.”

Both Jimmy and Kelly expressed clear pride for Ryan’s achievement, but for Kelly, who was diagnosed with breast cancer sometime ago, it’s a truly exceptional thing to be able to see.

“I didn’t even know if I was gonna be here for this kinda stuff, so for me, it’s kind of on another level of how amazing it is to see my kid,” Kelly said. “It’s been amazing enough to see him excel in cornhole, at something that he’s super passionate about. But to be able to see my kid on ESPN, it’s pretty unreal.”

Though his parents did most of the talking for him and offered much praise, Ryan did voice his excitement for the coming year, also expressing his thanks for his sponsors FLY Cornhole and bangarangTEAM.

“I’m just super excited that I get to be in the pro division and play with all these, the best players in the world, and everybody gets to see me compete, like, everywhere I play and on TV,” Ryan said.

Looking forward to the year ahead, Ryan will once again be chasing points to maintain his pro status, continuing to travel to competitions across the country while getting more exposure on ESPN.

“We’re basically just gonna keep playing and practicing to get better and stay pro for as long as possible,” Jimmy said.

Even further down the line, his mother expressed her hopes that he’ll see success throughout high school – maybe leading to something even bigger when he moves on to college.

“I think a long-term plan is probably for him to continue to be pro up until college,” Kelly said, “and then hopefully play in college on a scholarship or something.”